5 BIGGEST Lessons Learned From 2026 NBA Summer League

The NBA Summer League is where we as fans get our first official look at the incoming rookie class, and while those guys tend to be the ones drawing all of the attention, there are always a lot of other storylines to follow along with it. What makes this event so great is that it's a showcase for all kinds of young talent, and it opens up a lot of opportunities for players trying to make a name for themselves. Nothing that happens in Summer League definitively determines the outlook of a player, but it does give you a generally good idea of what to expect from them moving forward, which brings us to today's video. Today, we will be discussing my five biggest lessons learned from Summer League so far this year. Before we start though, it turns out a good amount of you watching right now aren't even subscribed to the channel, so if you enjoy the content, consider hitting the subscribe button as not only does it help out a ton, but I'd also very much appreciate it. Now with that being said, let's begin. The first big lesson learned from the Summer League this year is that the Big 4 from this year's draft class might actually go 4-4-4 and all live up to the hype. The top of this year's draft was hyped up as having more truly superstar caliber prospects than any year in recent years, with AJ Devansa, Darren Peterson, Cameron Boozer, and Caleb Wilson all being grouped in that top tier above the rest of the pack. We're all familiar with how things like that usually play out though. We usually see at least one or two of those guys get the label of a flop, because that just happens to be the nature of the business unfortunately. This year though, all four of them have looked scary in their own right in Summer League. Starting with the man who was drafted number one overall, AJ Devansa only needed two Summer League games before he was shut down for proving that he was simply too good for this level of competition. He averaged 25 points per game in those two games, he was generating turnover snatching a bunch of steals, and his incredible shot making has been on full display. He may not have been as efficient as one would like to see, but again, it's just a two game sample size and he still filled it up relatively easily. Darren Peterson has followed a very similar path and has looked healthier than he ever did in a Kansas uniform. Peterson is averaging about 24 points per game in the Summer League, he's showing off way more promise as an on-ball creator than did in college, and he's explosively attacking the basket throwing down some emphatic dunks along the way. If all of the concerns about his hamstring and his cramping problems are truly behind him, then I have full faith in him proving to be the all-timer type of guard prospect that he was pegged to be all along. Cam Boozer with Memphis may not be lighting it up in the scoring column like the others, but what made him such an enticing high-level prospect was his poison composure on the ball, his impressive basketball IQ and feel for the game, and his well-rounded game inside and out. Boozer has been averaging about 19 points, 7 rebounds, 3 assists, and 2 steals per game so far in Summer League scoring inside and out, and showing off the versatility that was promised, so Memphis fans have a lot to be excited about there. Then, last but certainly not least, Kayla Wilson may be the one putting the league on notice the most of all from this group. We already knew that Wilson was a freak athlete with incredibly dependable upside and aggressive driving skills where when he gets to the rim, he's throwing down big dunks. Wilson in Summer League though is averaging about 24 points per game by not only continuing that dominance around the rim, but also by displaying the fact that his three-point shot is way better than advertised. Wilson is making about 48% of his threes in Summer League so far on about eight attempts per game, including making seven threes in one game. Caleb Wilson made seven total threes all season long at North Carolina this year. The general consensus seemed to have Wilson as the fourth best of that top four, but based on how he's playing in Summer League, it's fair to say that he could be as good as any of the other three. The next big lesson learned from Summer League this year is that the league was completely wrong about Malik Thomas. Every year there are always a few guys that slip between the cracks, either falling into the second round or going undrafted completely only to prove that they had the talent that warranted first round consideration, and this year we're already seeing Malik Thomas establish himself as someone in that group. Throughout the college season and during most of the pre-draft process, Thomas was viewed as late first round talent expected by many draft analysts and outlets to be selected somewhere in the 20s, with some even having him up in the teens. Thomas played alongside lottery pick Darius Acuff at Arkansas this year, and together they were one of the most electrifying backcourts in the country. While Acuff was the more ball dominant playmaker of the two, Thomas was an outstanding spark plug of offense in his own right. Thomas was an outstanding shooting talent with confident deep shooting range, a very quick release that he can get off from anywhere on the floor, and a nose for finding openings both on and off the ball. His off-ball movement running around screens and cutting to find space is as good as anybody's in the class, and once he catches the ball he is immediately a threat to go right up with it. He averaged about 16 points per game, shooting 42 percent from three at Arkansas, yet on draft night this year he didn't actually end up hearing his name called until the second round where he was taken 34th overall by the Cleveland Cavaliers. That is clearly all he needed to find an edge that he may carry with him for the rest of his career, because he has come out with a clear chip on his shoulder in summer league. Thomas is literally leading the entire summer league in scoring right now, averaging 28 points per game, shooting 50 percent from the field and 46 percent from three. His flamethrower shooting talent projects to be a legit weapon in the Cavaliers rotation right away, and one can't help but think how every team passed on him in the first round in hindsight. The next lesson learned from summer league this year is that LeBaron Phylon and Cameron Carr are living up to the biggest steals of the first round title that many pegged them with at the time of the draft. Similar to Thomas, but to a lesser degree, NBA teams have a bad tendency to overthink the obvious and take risks that they just don't need to take. For most of the season, the majority of draft folk had LeBaron Phylon as a lottery talent and had Cam Carr as a mid-first round talent who, after his showing at the Combine, turned a lot of heads and led some to believe that he could work his way into the lottery as well. Neither of those things happened though, with Phylon slipping down to the 22nd pick by the Philadelphia 76ers and Cameron Carr slipping down to the 24th pick by the Los Angeles Lakers. The thing about draft reactions is that they're just words. If they actually want to prove the teams wrong, they need to prove it on the court and in summer league. These two have been showcasing a whole lot of talent out there. LeBaron Phylon and his crafty handle have been breaking defenders down game after game, blowing by guys getting into the paint, displaying dominant change of pace ability, and scoring confidently from all three levels. Phylon has been carrying the Sixers summer league squad averaging about 20 points and 6 assists per game, and he's been hitting about 39% of his threes, which have largely all been attempts that he's creating for himself off the dribble. Advanced creation and efficient shot making were his biggest strengths as a prospect, and those things have continued to flourish so far in summer league, giving the Sixers that kind of skill set As for Cam Carr, he has been a walking highlight reel. Carr is a 6 foot 5 explosive scoring guard with a 7 foot long wingspan, so he plays even bigger than he already is. Carr just has a natural feel for getting buckets that you cannot teach, with a jumper that can be utilized both spotting up and off the dribble, he has a strong intermediate game with a pull-up jumper and a in this summer league campaign. He's been averaging about 21 points per game, shooting 48% from the field, and for a Lakers team that's losing LeBron James, their focus has been adding as much offensive firepower as possible to replace him, and Carr is looking like he'll be ready for an immediate role in their rotation. The next lesson learned from summer league this year is that Kamon Malouach looks ready to break out in a big way this season for the Phoenix Suns. Malouach was an exciting prospect in last year's draft class who was taken in the top 10 by Phoenix. Malouach is a legit 7 foot 1 center with ridiculous size and length, and those physical tools have been intriguing to scouts from the very beginning, but it was also understood that Malouach was very much a project of a pick with an incredibly raw skill set. He flashed a lot of potential during his time at Duke, but his output was far from consistent and when it came to his understanding and feel for the game, he definitely had a long way to go. This is why after being drafted, he pretty much disappeared from the limelight for most of the season, as the Suns hardly ever played him throughout the regular season, largely only giving him appearances in garbage time. The Suns have worked hard developing him behind the scenes, without rushing him out on the court, which is a plan that does have pros and cons, with the pros being that it doesn't expose him to public pressure too early, but the cons are that he wasn't getting many game reps until the very end of the regular season when injuries to other centers on the team forced him into the rotation. This year's Summer League was going to be our first long look at him getting run, in a while, after being almost forgotten about by the general public, and he's come out reminding everybody why he was such a highly touted prospect in the first place. Come on Malouach has actually been outstanding across the board, checking every box that you want checked from a modern center. He's averaging about 18 points and a summer league leading 12 rebounds per game, he's blocking about two and a half shots per game along with that. Malouach is looking incredibly spry and mobile in the open floor, he's serving as a terrific role man in the pick and roll, he's learning how to use his body and maneuver past defenders in the paint for stronger finishes, and he's showing off really impressive athleticism, throwing down lobs left and right. Not only that, but he's also been taking five threes per game on average and is making them at a 40% clip in Summer League, which is a tool that we really didn't see him show off much at Duke at all, but now he's a potentially stretch big. I fully expect Malouach to take over the backup center job in Phoenix full time this season, and honestly by the end of the year it wouldn't surprise me at all if he surpassed Mark Williams as the team's starter at the position. And finally, the last big lesson learned from Summer League this year is that the Nets 2025 draft class remains very confusing and lackluster. We've discussed this topic a bunch on the channel where the gist is this, the Nets in last year's draft set an NBA record for most first round selections made in a single draft with five, and none of those five selections really looked like bona fide studs, which is just about as big of a disaster as it gets for a rebuilding team in that position. Rookie years don't define careers though, and year two breakouts from a few of those guys would completely shift the narrative of the situation. The Summer League is a great place for players to show that they're ready to take a leap too. We just haven't been seeing that, and in most cases things have only gotten worse. For example, one of those picks, Drake Powell, just went a stretch to start Summer League going one for his first 28 field goal attempts. I'm not exaggerating, he literally went one for 28. The hope was for Powell to be a 3 and D type of wing, but it's not looking like he can score capably against much lesser competition. Nolan Traore is unfortunately missing the event completely because of a surgery that he just underwent on his knee. Ben Sharaf was one of the least efficient players in the entire league as a rookie last season, so ideally the Summer League would have been where he gained some confidence for the year, but instead he's experiencing the same types of struggles, shooting a miserable 34% from the field and 25% from 3 in Summer League. Danny Wolfe is an intriguing offensive talent for a big man, but he really needs to be a serviceable stretch big to cement himself as a positive, and in the Summer League Wolfe is shooting just 11% from 3 so far. Then Yegor Geomin is actually playing some pretty strong basketball in the Summer League so far as he's averaging 21 points and 5 assists per game, but the way in which he's going about getting his production has been where the confusing aspect comes from in this lesson. As a rookie, Yegor Geomin shot the ball very well from 3, but he struggled mightily in the intermediate game and as a creator in the paint. In the Summer League this year, he has actually been doing the bulk of his damage in the midrange and around the rim while his 3 point shot has not really been falling at a great rate, and he's been used a lot more as a screener and a role man. He is the one bright spot here, it's just been very strange seeing the ways in which he's being used compared to what was expected of him as a prospect. And with that being said, that's all I have for you today. Make sure to like the video, subscribe to the channel, and comment down below what your biggest takeaways from the Summer League have been. Thanks for watching, and I'll see you all next time.